Trading Mr. Harrington

IceDubs — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:32:08 -0000

I do agree with much of the posting here at GSoM that Al Harrington is the most likely to be traded this offseason, as he will be playing out the last year of his contract and is a proven commodity.

I personally think, though, that Mully wont get any offers that help us the way Al could next season, since very few trades in the NBA are equally beneficial and help both teams immediately. I've seen some ideas bounced around like trading Al for another veteran forward, but realistically, the only time a veteran is traded for a veteran is when they play very different positions (think point guard for power forward).

The only way I see Al leaving Oakland is if we trade him in a similar fashion to how we traded JRich last year. As in, finding a team who is far under the cap and trading them Al for a trade exception/draft picks/future considerations. There are two teams that I can see thinking twice about taking on Al and his hefty contract, and (surprise) both are in the eastern conference. Let me know what you all think about the odds...

Philadelphia 76ers:

They are WAY under the cap going into this offseason, and are also riding high with their late season success and playoff birth. They have a very young team, and also a new GM who is going into his first offseason with the club. Although they still need to wrap up Andre Iguodala, and one of their needs this offseason is to upgrade at the power forward position. Al seems to be a decent fit for their fast pace, and they really dont have anyone currently on the roster who fills the 4 nicely (Thaddeus Young to me seems more like a 3). They could offer us their first round pick, plus the posibility of another pick (maybe give the Warriors the right to swap picks in 2009). Realistically, the Sixers want to persue Brand or Jamison in the off-season, but Al would probably be the next tier down if Brand doesn't opt out and Jamison looks like he is gonna resign.

New Jersey Nets:

Now that Jason Kidd is off the books, the Nets (surprisingly) have some cap room to mess around with. (Although I'm still not sure about that Keith Van Horn contract, if anyone has official info, please let me know). They are in dire need of a scoring option that can play in the front court, and I would think pairing Al with Carter and Jefferson on the wings could be a really good thing for them. Plus, Al's contract would come off the books in time for a run at LeBron. They will most likely end up with the 10th/11th pick in the draft, and I personally think thats good value for Al. At this point it would be speculation, but we could use our two picks to grab a point and a forward at the back end of the lottery with our two picks (Russell Westbrook/Donte Green????) which might be good fits long term for us.

I would really think that the New Jersey deal might actually be a good trade for both teams, but lets see what you think.....

Harping on the JRich Trade

IceDubs — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:56:16 -0000

This is my first-time post, and I've only been reading GSoM for a few months now, so I figured instead of throwing up a crazy trade idea I'd get a thread going on the other topic everyone seems so opinionated about.

The dreaded JRich draft-day trade.....

I gotta admit that I'm getting a little annoyed with everybody thinkin that we shouldn't have traded Jason last year, and how we would have/ could have/ should have been a better team with him on the roster this year. And before anybody jumps all over me, let me state that JRich was the sole reason a lot of us were Warrior fans in those lean years, and he carried us through some tough times. I love the guy to death, and he deserved to be treated with more respect than how things went down. Unfortunately, the NBA, as well as this fan site, is much, much more of a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately type of place. Respect and loyalty holds almost no weight in comparison to results and money.

So on that note, the JRich trade was the correct move, regardless of whether or not BWright developes into a 20 ppg player. Let me explain why....

With JRich on the roster this year, our "big 3" wouldn't have magically become the 'big4'. Monta Ellis' growth would innevitably have been stunted, because he simply wouldn't have gotten the touches or even the minutes to do the things he did this year. Jax wouldn't have been as effective, as he would have been playing power forward half the time and also getting less touches. Even JRich wouldn't have put up close to the numbers he did in Charlotte this year, because he wouldn't have had a chance to put up 18 shots a game. All this is a huge reason why he was deemed expendable.

On top of it, he is 27 years old and had just come off a season partially lost due to a knee injury that was taking forever to heal. Yes, he did play all 82 games this year, but at this time last year everyone was still worried about his injury history. At his position, and the way he plays, as soon as he cant elevate off the floor his career will be all but over.

As if all of the above wasn't enough of a reason to trade him, between him, Baron, Jax and Al, they were making a lot of money (I think about 80%of the payroll). We needed to cut some costs, and its been to do this early rather than too late, when you cant get any value for your guys.

And to boot, we were about to completely drop his contract on another team (something that rarely happens in the NBA these days) AND get a big-time prospect at a position of need.

In the end, to me, the trade makes a heck of a lot of sense, and realistically doesn't need any defending. The Warriors 06-07 roster wasn't going to get any farther than it did, and realistically shouldn't have gotten that far. Our 07-08 team was a better team, despite the fact that it was more of a rebuilding year for us. How can we look at this years team and say it was a failure? We won 6 more games in a conference that saw improvements from a bunch of other teams. Our future is much brighter now than it would be if we didnt trade JRich, and we wouldn't have been better this year with him.

Objections?

SB Nation User Blog: IceDubs

Trading Mr. Harrington

Harping on the JRich Trade